The Stolen Horse
by Stargazer79
Summary: Hercules and Xena team up to rescue a stolen horse.
1. Chapter 1

"You know what we need?" Iolaus asked thoughtfully as he and Hercules walked through the woods. "A horse. Then it would be faster and easier to get around."

Hercules only gave him a glance.

Iolaus continued. "And if one of us were to get hurt we could just ride. Or if we were being chased or one of us got sick and had to get to a healer real fast..."

"Okay, okay. I get the point," Hercules interrupted. "What are you leading up to?"

"Well, there's this festival..."

"Ah, I see."

"No, let me finish. The main attraction there is a big horse auction," Iolaus explained. "I bet we could make a good deal."

"Well, I don't know..." Hercules said just to tease Iolaus.

"Come on, it'll be fun! And like I said, a horse could be useful."

"Alright, lead the way." Hercules followed Iolaus, who had an extra bounce to his step from his excitement.

Elsewhere Xena was riding Argo along through the forest with Gabrielle trailing behind.

"Hey Xena!" Gabrielle called, running to catch up and walk alongside Argo.

"What? You wanna ride?"

"No. But if I had my own horse I wouldn't have to always ride behind you."

"You wanna go to that horse auction, don't'cha?" Xena guessed.

"How do you always know what I'm thinking?" Gabrielle asked, surprised.

"Gabrielle, you can't even ride."

"Yeah I can!" Gabrielle said defensively.

"No you can't. I've seen you," Xena told her. "And where would we get the money for a horse anyway?"

Gabrielle shrugged and tried to think of an excuse. "Okay fine. But can we go to the festival anyway?" she asked.

"Sure," Xena said, turning in that direction.

Gabrielle tripped over a log as she was following. "You know, maybe I will take that ride." She climbed up behind Xena and they began trotting toward the festival.

Hercules and Iolaus arrived at the festival that evening. There were tons of food and game stands all over. Iolaus pointed to a big barn and fenced-in pen.

"Let's go check it out."

Salmoneus was there when they reached the pen. "Hercules! Iolaus!" he greeted them. "Here for the horse auction?"

"You bet," Iolaus said.

"It starts tomorrow morning and I'm running it," Salmoneus told them.

"Okay, see ya then," Iolaus said before turning to Hercules. "How about the pie eating contest?"

"How about some dinner?" Hercules said. "Let's save the pie eating for later."

"Alright," Iolaus reluctantly agreed.

While they were wandering around looking for some food something hit Iolaus in the back of the head. "Ow! Hey, who's throwing things!" he exlaimed, turning.

"Gabrielle, you have the worst aim," Xena said, aiming her own ball at the stack of cups in the back of the stall.

"I think it hit someone," Gabrielle said. "Yeah, that guy over there. Wait is that... Hey look, Xena!" She poked her friend. "It's Hercules and Iolaus!"

Xena stopped aiming for a second to look. "So it is." She threw the ball and knocked down all the cups before she allowed Gabrielle to dragged her away toward the two men.

"What are you guys doing here?" Xena asked.

"Iolaus wants a horse," Hercules replied.

"See, he lets Iolaus get a horse!" Gabrielle said to Xena.

"Iolaus can ride. You ready for dinner?"

Gabrielle nodded.

"Why don't you join us?" Iolaus offered.

After dinner and a messy pie eating contest the four of them camped out in the woods on the edge of the village. Little did they know, someone was causing trouble in the night.


	2. Chapter 2

Iolaus was up early the next morning trying to rush everyone else. "Come on, up up up! Don't wanna miss the auction!"

"It lasts all day, Iolaus," Hercules told him after being poked in the side with a foot.

"Yeah, but I don't wanna miss a single horse." Finally Iolaus couldn't contain himself anymore. "You know what, I'll meet you there." And with that he was sprinting toward the festival.

"He sure is excited," Xena stated, nudging the still sleeping Gabrielle.

"Yeah, he loves any kind of festival," Hercules replied as he put out the fire.

Xena nudged Gabrielle a little harder.

"She's got a gift if she can sleep through Iolaus' wake up call," Hercules said.

"She can sleep through anything, believe me." Xena rolled Gabrielle off of the blanket they slept on so she could pack it away in the saddle bag. Gabrielle moaned.

"Come on, let's go get breakfast and meet up with Iolaus," Xena said, pulling Gabrielle to her feet.

The three of them left Argo to graze and went to the festival. They pretended like they didn't notice Falafel trying to call them to his food stall as they searched for breakfast.

Suddenly Iolaus came running up to them. "There's a problem."

"What did you do this time, Iolaus," Hercules said.

"Nothing! Just come here." Iolaus led them to the horse auction.

A distraught looking farmer was pacing back and forth while Salmoneus tried to calm him down. When he saw Hercules his face lit up. "Hercules!" His expression turned worried. "And Xena!?" He saw Iolaus and Gabrielle. "And...their children?"

"Hey! We're the sidekicks!" Iolaus said, stepping forward.

Hercules pulled his angry little friend back. "Is there a problem here?"

"Yes," the man said. "I was supposed to be auctioning my horse today because I really need money, but when I went to get him he was gone! Somebody stole him!" He was pacing frantically again. "You have to help me, Hercules!"

"Don't worry, we'll get your horse back," Hercules assured him.

"Oh, thank you! He's a big bay," the farmer said.

"Let's start in the stables," Xena suggested.

While they were walking there Iolaus halted. "Wait," he said. "What about the auction?"

"You can go to the auction if you want," Hercules told him. "But this will be easier with four people helping."

Iolaus looked torn but eventually gave in. "Okay, I'll help."

In the barn the four of them were looking all around the missing horse's stall.

"I don't see any footprints," Gabrielle announced from kneeling on the ground.

"I don't see any clues!" Iolaus exclaimed, throwing his hands up.

"How about hoofprints?" Hercules asked.

"Yeah, inside the stall," Gabrielle replied. "But there's none leading out of it."

"There are two exits out of the barn," Xena said. "The thief had to take the horse out of one of them."

"Let's split up and look for hoofprints leading out of the festival," Hercules said.

Half an hour later they met back at the barn. "We didn't find anything. You?" Xena asked.

"Nope," Hercules said.

"Well, that got us nowhere," Iolaus said.

"Obviously this is a very good thief who knows how to cover up his tracks," Xena said. "I'm guessing he led the horse for a distance and left it tied somewhere while he went back to hide his trail. Then he went back to the horse and probably rode it far away from here so he wouldn't have a chance of getting caught."

"So we're going to have to widen our search," Gabrielle said.

"That's alot of searching," Iolaus said.

"Better get started then," Hercules told them.

Each of them went a different way. Xena was searching in a grassland to the north of the village. In the distance was a lonely tree. When she reached the tree she found hoofprints beneath it that led off into a trail.

Xena whistled and Argo came cantering up to her. She mounted and began riding to find the others. She told them one by one as she found them to meet her back at the stables.

Standing outside of the barn Xena told them, "I found the trail. The thief started riding the horse so it's easy to follow."

"He probably got really far by now," Iolaus said. "We'll never catch him!"

"Are you giving up?" Gabrielle asked as Iolaus started to stomp away.

"He's just mad that he's missing the festival and horse auction," Hercules said.

"Well let's go," Xena said. "If we can find this horse quick maybe Iolaus won't have to miss the whole thing."

A kind farmer let Hercules and Iolaus borrow two of his horses. They all mounted up and set off at a canter. They passed by the tree and followed the trail through the grassland.

"Hey!" Iolaus yelled for the tenth time, pulling his horse's head up from a buck. "Can someone switch with me? This horse isn't listening!"

"Sure you still want one of your own?" Hercules asked, laughing at him.

Iolaus almost got thrown again as the horse kicked out in a buck. "Any horse has got to be better than this one!"

Finally they arrived at a small village where the trail mixed with a bunch of other hoofprints. They tied the horses and started looking around for a barn. They found one and began looking around inside. There were a bunch of horses, but only one was big and bay.

"Do you think this is the one?" Gabrielle asked.

"I know it's the one," Xena said.

"How?" Iolaus asked.

"Because Autolycus is hiding behind it."


	3. Chapter 3

Once Xena said Autolycus' name, the king of thieves stepped out from behind the stolen horse. "How did you find me?" he questioned, annoyed. "I was very careful."

"I know you, Autolycus," Xena told him. "All I had to do was think like you."

"Now hand him over," Iolaus said. "We have to take him back to the auction."

"Okay, you got me." Autolycus led the horse from the stall. But before anyone could do anything he swung into the saddle and took off.

"We should've been expecting that," Gabrielle said.

They raced to their own horses. Xena leaped onto Argo and galloped away with Hercules right behind her. Iolaus took a moment to get his stubborn horse going but he was soon chasing after them.

"I'll just wait here!" Gabrielle called.

Xena caught up to Autolycus on the bay horse. "Stop!" she shouted to him. "You know this isn't right!"

"I haven't had all my fun yet!" he yelled back. "You can't just expect the king of thieves to give back what he stole!"

Hercules rode up to gallop on Autolycus' other side. "Just stop the horse, Autolycus," he said. "Nobody needs to get hurt."

"I'm not giving him up without a proper chase!" Autolycus exclaimed, gaining even more speed.

Xena flipped off Argo with a battle cry to land right behind Autolycus on the bay. She yanked the reins from his hands and stopped the horse, then pushed Autolycus out of the saddle.

"Hey!" he complained.

"There, you had your chase. And guess what?" Xena said. "You get to walk back."

As Xena and Hercules were cantering back to the village, with Argo following them, they spotted the horse Iolaus had borrowed grazing all alone beside a very deep ditch. A call for help came from the trench in the ground.

"Iolaus!" Hercules yelled, slowing his horse.

"Down here!" Iolaus answered. "That dumb horse bucked me off and I landed in this hole."

"Are you alright?" Hercules asked as he and Xena dismounted and peered over the edge.

"I think I sprained my wrist and I can't climb out," Iolaus explained.

"We'll get you out of there," Hercules said.

Xena unlooped some rope from her saddle. "Go find Gabrielle," she told Argo, then smacked her on the rump. Argo started cantering toward the village. They tied the other three horses to a tree.

Xena lowered the rope into the ditch. "Tie this around yourself and we'll pull you up."

Iolaus knotted the rope in a harness around himself. "Okay!"

Xena and Hercules began pulling him up slowly. They turned when they heard galloping hooves and another yell for help.

Gabrielle was clinging to Argo's saddle as the palomino sped along straight for them. "Xena! I can't stop!" she cried.

"Pull back on the reins!" Xena called back.

"I can't! I'm gonna fall!"

Xena whistled. Argo slid to a sudden stop in front of her, and Gabrielle flipped over the horse's head with a scream. Xena tried to catch her but missed and Gabrielle tumbled down the steep wall of the ditch. Iolaus managed to catch her on the way down, but the extra weight caused the rope to fray on some sharp rocks.

"Uh, guys, hurry up!" Iolaus said.

Hercules and Xena turned their attention back to pulling them up. The rope frayed more and more with each movement and threatened to break.

"Hurry!" Gabrielle called.

About halfway up, the rope snapped. The sidekicks fell back into the ditch.

"You guys okay?" Xena asked, looking down into the hole.

"Yeah," they both said.

"Sure you can't climb up?" Hercules asked.

"Not with this sprained wrist," Iolaus answered.

"I could try," Gabrielle said.

"No, just don't, Gabrielle. You'll fall," Xena said after watching Gabrielle slip off when she tried to climb. "I'm coming down there."

Slowly, Xena and Hercules made their way down the wall of the ditch. At the bottom Iolaus climbed onto Hercules' back and Gabrielle clung to Xena's. The two heroes carefully climbed back out of the ditch.

"It's getting late," Hercules said at the top when he noticed the darkening sky.

"Guess I'm not going to that auction," Iolaus said sadly.

"You can always get a horse some other way," Hercules told him.

"You're right," Iolaus agreed. "Let's get going, but I'm not riding _that _horse." He pointed to the one that bucked him off.

"I'll ride that one," Xena offered. "You can ride the bay, and Gabrielle can ride Argo."

They set off at a walk back to the festival because Gabrielle refused to go any faster after her scary ride earlier.

"Now _this_ horse listens," Iolaus said, trotting up from behind. "I like him."

The farmer who owned the horse greeted them when they arrived at the festival that night. He still looked a little sad even though they'd retrieved his stolen horse.

"Thank you very much," he said gratefully, "but the auction is over now. I'll have to find some other way to sell him."

"I'll buy him," Iolaus said suddenly.

"You will? Thank you! I really need the money."

Iolaus offered a generous amount and the big bay was his. As they walked back to camp Hercules said, "Happy Iolaus? You got your horse."

"Yup," Iolaus said. "I think I'll name him Ko Jax."

"Too bad we missed most of the festival," Gabrielle said.

"There will be others," Xena said, laying a blanket out on the ground when they reached camp.

"I think we'll hang around with you two for a while," Hercules told them as he settled down for bed beside a big rock.

"Yeah, it'll be fun. The four of us and our two horses," Iolaus added, stretching out in a patch of grass.

"That'll be more exciting than a festival. I can't wait for tomorrow!" Gabrielle said. She layed next to Xena on the blanket and the four of them went to sleep, dreaming about future adventures.


End file.
